The Fleet Gathers!
Join us at Wintertide Festival to view all of the Ships and get the chance to bid on your favourite and raise money for a local charity!
Our Ship Ahoy Auction will form part of the Wintertide programme, taking place on Sunday 26th November between 5-6pm, St Hilda’s Church.
A huge thank you to the hundreds of people who took part in decorating the ships and to the local businesses who hosted ships as part of the trail.
The Northern Festival of Illustration’s art trail made a spectacular return in 2023 with the
magnificent display of 29 decorated ships across various venues in Hartlepool.
Celebrating the Tall Ships Hartlepool Race, BC-FX Design was commissioned by the
Northern Festival of Illustration to create the sculptures. BloomInArt then teamed up with
community groups and local artists to decorate the ships with 29 distinct designs,
engaging a total of 633 individuals.
Local businesses were contacted to exhibit a ship in their window for the public to
seek out.
The fleet will be showcased for one final time at the Wintertide Festival, before being
auctioned off to raise funds for charity. This year, all proceeds will be donated to The
Following the hugely popular Monkey Trail in 2021 this year we bring you ships!
Over the summer the people of Hartlepool have decorated 29 ship sculptures.
This includes four by local artists:
Keith Robson – illustrator and comic artist
Mandascat – illustrator
Emily Carter – fine artist
Durham Spray Paints – street artist
Each brings their own unique style to the ships.
The range of ship art is truly fabulous and now you can see the Ships at the following locations
| Ship Name | Who Created The Ship | Location | Ive Seen it! |
| H M Mess | Hartlepool framing Company | Orangebox Training Solutions | |
| The EC Caarter | Artist Emily Carter | Mark LLoyd Jewellary | |
| The Sarah Keen | Artist Keith Robson | Cafe Rappor Bar | |
| Dipper | Dabble In Art | Art Gallery | |
| Good News | Tall Ships Event drop in workshops | The BIS | |
| The Knitted Bible | St Georges URC | St Georges URC | |
| CFNE | Changing Futures North East | LifeStyle NE | |
| The Trans Altalntic | Hartlepool Youth Service LGBT Group | The Northern School of Art, Church square. | |
| Sunflower | Annexe | The Annexe – Dyke House | |
| Heart- Le-Pool | Tall Ships Event drop in workshops | Hartlepotz | |
| Seapray | Artist- Durham Spraypaint | Poppys Hairdressers | |
| Mandas Seagull | Artst -Amanda Smith | King Johns Tavern | |
| TBC | Northern Festival of Illustration- guest artist | TBC | |
| Lillyannes | LillyAnne’s Art Group | LillyAnne’s Wellbeing Coffee Bar | |
| No Plan B | St Teresas Primary School (yr 5 pupils) | The Northern School of Art, 1 Church Street | |
| Sparkle | Eldon Grove Academy (Yr 1 pupils) | Museum of Hartlepool | |
| HMS Tentacles | Rossmere Primary School (Yr 3 pupils) | FOLIO building Church Street | |
| The Blue Lagoon | The Thrive Hive CIC | Virgin Money | |
| The Pearl | Home Ed pupils | The Raby Arms | |
| Magic | BloomInArt | The Owl | |
| My Love* | Tall ships drop in workshops | Central Hub | |
| Fab Lab* | Central Hub Art Club’s | Daisy & Bees Cafe | |
| Doodle | Tall ships community drop in workshops | Plantopia | |
| We are the Heart | Tall ships community drop in workshops | 9 anchors | |
| Shelley | Tall ships community drop in workshops | Hodgsons Fish Whitby Street. | |
| Dream Boat | Tall ships community drop in workshops | Place in the park (Ward Jackson Park) | |
| Save Our World | Tall ships community drop in workshops | Salaam Centre | |
| Captain Carers | Young Carers/Hartlepool carers | Gladys Tea Room | |
| Theo | Reach out Ministries | Sea View Pottery Place |
We didn’t have a theme for the ships, but we wanted people to respond in one of the following ways:
· To reflect on our maritime history
· To celebrate Tall Ships coming back to town
· To tell a personal story
· To say something positive about the town
· To tell us how you feel about the future.
Find your ship now!
The Ships will be on display until November. The fleet will come together again at the Wintertide Festival when hey will be auctioned to raise money for the Annexe.